Well hello, stranger

Clearly it's been a long time since I've blogged when I can't remember the web address.  Oops.  But I was kind of boring myself for a while - one can only get so much mileage from tennis and stomach bug stories - but the times they are a changing these days!  We leave Kathmandu on July 13th just as it seems to be dissolving into lawlessness and further political idiocy.  Buh bye.  I like to think that it's sensitive and patriotic to bravely join the ranks of the American unemployed in a gesture of global comradeship, but considering that we're planning to travel Asia for 4 or 5 months before coming back to Santa Fe, it just kinda seems a tiny bit self-indulgent.  But awesome!  And no, mom, we won't be "free-loading" by living with you in Santa Fe; we'll just be living for free and eating your food while amusing you with travel stories.  There's a BIG DIFFERENCE.  And we're kind of used to having a cook so let's discuss who's going to cut up our fruit and peel our lychees and put all of it in a pretty bowl in the refrigerator for a refreshing chilled dessert.  Ah, when I was 20 where did I think I'd be when I turned 40?  It's a pretty safe bet that it isn't Mongolia.  So the tentative schedule is Mongolia-Beijing-Tibet-Northern India-Thailand-Malaysia-Indonesia-Cambodia-Viet Nam.  December is still open at this point as the budget may have run out and I might have a lead on a job and so may have to reenter reality.  But New Zealand is on the back burner.  If any of you are considering traveling, and it really is a great time to travel with deals galore (if you still have a job, that is; it's tough out there these days), then I can post dates and specifics.  The first part of the trip through India is trekking and harder stuff and the middle part is easier touring with lots of beaches.  Bev Day and Karen Schreiber are thinking of doing the Cambodia/Viet Nam leg.  So that's the big picture...I'll keep you posted!  xoc

Jinxed

So I Jinxed myself by bragging about my life of leisure.  Monday night I was invited to a wedding reception after work and so rushed home to change.  I haven't been "super special whitey" in a while and as the only non-Nepali there was rushed forward past hundreds of people to meet the bride and groom, met all the parents who promptly invited me to their homes, had lots of pictures taken, etc.  Mind you, one of my new salesmen's cousin was the groom.  Tuesday night I went to the Buddhist center and as it happens the director (a British woman) is an environmental geologist and knows the organization for which I will be applying for a really cool job.  And so of course I'm being extra helpful at the center.  I'd like to move back to the US at the end of the year but given the economy a back-up plan is in order.  The organization's website is www.icimod.org.  So I have 4 weeks to learn everything about the Hindu Kush - Himalayan mountain range and all of the issues surrounding them such as disaster preparation, climate change, water, sustainable livelihoods, etc.  Oh, and in 8 countries, as well, as the range spans 8 countries.  But it's exciting and a good topic no matter what happens.  And of course we're playing lots of tennis which is fun.  xoc

Springtime in the Du

So it appears that I've shaken a telephone harasser.  He was an older guy from the immigration office ("We long life friends, OK?") and so I didn't want to be aggressive but my complacency was probably encouraging.  Six calls a day.  The solution was to have an American guy friend answer my phone and forcefully tell the jerk not to call me anymore.  Sometimes in a male culture it takes a male solution.   I don't go to class anymore (I have my student visa until July 15th and can get tourist visas until my contract is up in September) and so work is now a mellow full day.  Sales are going well, we're introducing two new brands of condoms next month, and the staff is stable.  In a weird way I kinda miss the drama of "that one lame man" like I used to miss the drama of my mother-in-law.  I don't have any good stories anymore!   It's kind of fun that one of the brands of condoms has a semi-naked lady on the package (of course sex sells with great profit margins) and it sends my staff into an embarrassed tizzy when we have meetings about it.  At first my boss was against having a naked lady package but when I showed her the package that a USAID-funded company sells (very, very naughty) she capitulated as we need the profits.  What would be helpful is if I could fill my day emailing my friends but with the power cuts that's not even an option and so I might start taking my Nepali book to work.  I'm potentially playing in a tennis tournament in April (USA vs. UK) as they need players in the beginner's bracket.  So this weekend was a bit surreal as on both days we spent half the day at the American Club playing and then having lunch.  It all seems a bit Thurston Howell the Third "errr...jolly great shot, Tad" but the weather is beautiful and the exercise is great.  We've made tons of new people as we are trying to fill the spot of Lydia, our bestest friend who was shipped back to Washington DC.   I don't think that will happen but at least we can say we have a few friends!  Saturday we went to a massive Valentine's Day party with Janice's co-workers and I found myself dancing to "Aquarius" as, literally, the moon was in the seventh house and Jupiter was aligned with Mars.  Again, trippy.  So my week shapes up as tennis two nights, Buddha two nights, and one night for relaxing.   The Buddhist Center people are really nice (a Spanish guy and his British wife) which is wonderful because that has been a big hole in my life over the past year.  As I've said before, the expat life can be quite easy in the midst of global turmoil.  Except for the power cuts.  Oh, and if you haven't read it yet read "The Historian."  Fabulous.  xoc

Steelers still winning?

Our friend Lynette arrived on Saturday afternoon and we took her to the orphanage to keep her awake (nothing like having a dozen children trying to wrestle with you to stave off jetlag).  Luckily these days there doesn't seem to be a lice outbreak at the home and so we're doing fine.  No one's showing the superbowl here but it seems like the Steelers are doing well.  Last week we met with a division of USAID and broke the ice on how to get some HIV/AIDs money for our clinics so that we can do some quick testing and counseling.  The epidemic has been really successfully controlled in Nepal basically thanks to the US and the traditional growth areas: sex workers, their clients, drug users, etc. are shrinking.  However, the one growth area is the wives and children of men who had been engaging in high-risk behavior and so we'd like to try and see if we can do anything with our clinical network.  One great thing W did in office was to strongly promote fighting HIV/AIDs in the developing world and the positive effects (not to mention good will) are priceless.  A senior manager from London is coming for our annual meeting and hopefully I'll get a chance to discuss how this year is going to play out.  I could get much more done at work if I don't go to school for 3 hours a day but I need someone to approve it.  Tomorrow I'll get my 6-month student visa and since I don't intend to enroll for next semester I don't actually have to go to class.  That's assuming that I can get a tourist visa for August and September to finish up my contract.  I should know tomorrow.   The power cuts should soon decrease to 12 hours a day, the garbage strike is over and we can talk to USAID.  It's a good week here in the 'Du.  xoc

New Year

OK, so week one back in-country wasn't too bad: I flossed, updated my blog, exercised a few times, and in general followed the majority of my resolutions.  School starts next week and so it's time to re-learn Nepali.  This weekend was relaxing and we went mountain-biking with a few guys this morning.  Lynette comes next weekend and so it's fun to plan for her visit.  We are really excited about Obama lifting the global gag rule that prevented the US from funding any organizations in any way that discuss or provide abortions.   When W reinstituted that rule the US pulled all funding from the work that we do with conflict refugees in places like Darfur who are overwhelming poor women, often raped multiple times as an act of war, and often pregnant and in need of pre and post natal care, gynecological checkups, abortion services, inoculations, etc. all of which we provide when funded.  The rule prevented any joint work that we had previously done with the US in vasectomies, tubal ligations, and long-term birth control and this past year the US stopped selling our African programs IUDs, Norplant, and all other birth control because someone somewhere got nervous that selling us contraceptives somehow violated the rule.  Really bad public health for the most desperate people in the world that desperately need coordinated efforts.  But enough politics...things are good here.  Hope you had a good weekend!  xoc

THAT ONE LAME MAN RESIGNED!

Being home reminded me that a wide variety of people sometimes read this blog and so I sheepishly feel the need to comment that my BOSS calls the former sales manager "that one lame man who makes my whole program lame" (she also calls a nice middle-aged lady in the sales department "that big fat hen who clucks, clucks, clucks and does nothing").  I'm just saying....  But anyway 14 months since I started gently, and then increasingly, telling management that TOLM was incompetent and stealing, they forced him out.  Wow.  But someone getting forced out must be a really big deal here because we all had to discuss it at mind-boggling length even though he'd been on unpaid leave for almost two months.   And then him returning his desk keys was an even bigger ordeal.  He waited a few days while we stewed and then called the tea boy to meet him somewhere for the ceremonial handing over of the desk keys.  Ummm....what?  And what's so weird is that he had important papers in his desk that we really needed and yet no one would break into it (it was secured by 6th grade diary locks that can be picked with bobby pins).  It's a respect thing taken to an incredible degree.   Now I just really, really hope that we can turn the sales department around over the next 8 months so that my only accomplishment isn't getting a handicapped guy fired.

Sooooo....I brought back gifts for management and for the sales staff.  I still haven't been able to get management together for gifting but the sales staff generally loved their stuff.  Our best sales guy is strutting around in his New England Patriots hat and the assistant manager loves his Yankees hat.  A few others weren't so impressed in that stone-faced Nepali way but lord knows that you can't make everyone happy.  It's as if the stock boy (who is looking much better after his bout of double hepatitis) KNEW that I bought his t-shirt at the San Francisco airport.  

Another ironic thing is that after 8 months in Nepal the American Club had seemed like double rainbow magic land but, after one month is America, the Club looks a little not so special.  Could use a little sprucing up.  It's all a matter of perspective.  But going there is great and I explained to the exercise trainer Sundar that he needs to get me fit before my 40th birthday or else.  Thus everything is sore today.  Sundar and his "Michael McDonald from the Doobie Brothers set to a techno beat CD" that I've already heard 3 times showed me.  Goodnight! xoc

Back

So....back to Kathmandu.  I forgot what a long trip it is...Santa Fe to San Francisco to Tokyo to Bangkok to Kathmandu.  We both brought back so much stuff and were prepared for the financial worst but shockingly United didn't charge us for our third bags (it was too early in the morning and the drawer with the receipts was locked) and KTM customs waved our huge pile of luggage through.  Actually, I wasn't even there as I had left the airport to say goodbye to our friend Lydia who was leaving KTM, and so customs waved through Janice, a porter, and a total of 8 bags.  I love this country.  16 hours a day of power cuts seemed interesting, almost charming, when I was stateside but in reality it means that it's a struggle to find a window with hot water during which to shower.  I officially joined the American Club and it is quickly the place where we go to shower since they heat their water with a generator.  Literally we are going to attend the Obama inauguration party at the Club mostly because we can shower before-hand.  My staff was very happy that I came back and everyone, I mean everyone, has commented on how much weight I gained.  The security guard at my building as I got out of the airport van.  South Asians love to discuss weight and were delighted that I now know to join in the game; I told them that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to gain 10+ pounds in 4 weeks but I was up to the challenge.  The only other compliment that I received is that my office assistant told me that "madam is looking so beautiful and white."  Did I get whiter in America?  I did drink a lot of Starbucks and expensive bottled organic juices.  When you're in a bookstore look up the paperback bestseller "Stuff White People Like"...it's so funny and so true.  The Maoist government is struggling with, well, everything, and the latest is that they are not treating local community groups right and so garbage hasn't been picked up for weeks.  But as I've said before, people just manage to live even though there's no power, a water shortage since water pumps don't work, garbage everywhere and general dismay.  If there's another petrol shortage then it really will get ugly.  But it's warm and sunny during the day and people are friendly and it's good to be back.  It was SO GOOD to see everyone; think about coming to see this special brand of beautiful madness before the opportunity passes!

Today's the Day

This afternoon at 1:55 pm we get on a plane and head off to Bangkok.  And then to San Jose to see Jenrose and then to Santa Fe to see my parents.  Hooray!  As of Saturday afternoon my cell phone # is 408-504-9429 and Janice's is 408-506-0422.  On the 31st I'll be in Michigan until the 10th.  I'm so excited to talk to everyone and hopefully see most everyone.  xoc

Eleven Days!

Now they're moving fast because there's so much to do at work.  Thursday is the fourth and final day of Nepali language exams, thank god.  Seriously, in how many ways can I use colors and the names of fruit in sentences?  I'm struggling at work because the stockboy, who just returned from having hepatitis A and C, that's right, A AND C, really really wants to be my friend.  He's maybe 21 and has already asked for my email so that he can email me in America.  I let him listen to my ipod and we've been bonded ever since.  The problem is that it's tangerine season here - delicious - and he brings me one every day.  Sometimes he peels them and puts the sections on a plate.  Clearly this causes two problems: I'm not taking any food from a guy who just had hep A & C and I'm not eating anything off of a plate at work that came from the "kitchen" which is a closet off of the "bathroom".  Imagine a makeshift gas burner next to a toilet.  Undoubtedly the plate's still wet from having been washed and Janice is currently suffering from dysentery.  So every day I have to figure what to do with the tangerine.  I bring my lunch to work despite the fact that it sorta offends the teaboy/cook but there's just no room for negotiation.  I made up for the tangerine issue, however, by looking at approximately 15,000 photographs of hep boy's college class bus trip to Pokhara, Nepal.  I'm not kidding when I say that my patience has grown geometrically.  So otherwise things are moving along and I'll see many of you soon!  xoc

Well hello there

Time cannot pass quickly enough!  The closer I get to coming home - on the 19th - the less I can stand all of the little things about this place that normally roll right off my back.  How crazy is it that my "Intro to Nepali" exam is FOUR DAYS long.  I literally don't know enough words to fill 4 days x 3 hours or even just 3 hours for that matter.  I mean, please.  But otherwise the weather is lovely during the day and cold at night, work is interesting in that we're launching 3 new condom brands (I now glibly talk about colored, studded, flavored, etc. as if normal people talk this way), and most of the Christmas shopping is done.  Let's all be glad that I won't be here for another Christmas because I've tapped the gift selection that this little country has to offer.  So screw Nepal and it's pollution, noise, power cuts, water shortages, and general insanity and bring on Whole Foods, French cheese, Slurpees, brushing ones teeth with tap water, laundry dryers, and, most importantly, the end to this face rash caused by Nepal's toxic tap water.  Sigh.  Like it's not tough enough coming home with this haircut.  When we land in San Francisco Mr. Fabulous Friend James (that's Mr. Jenrose to you and me) will have gotten us cell phones and so expect calls from a decent time zone.  SO EXCITING!  xoc